navigation

NatureBox

Lunchbots

mabel ads

Advertise on AL

JBox for Bento

sitemeter

Sunday, October 3, 2010

I'll be honest with you. I don't like the circus. Not even a tiny bit. I pretty much had decided to skip MTM this week because of it, but decided at the last moment Sunday evening to toss something together after all. This is what it came out like... Ethan helped. :)

In the back row we have a couple favorite circus food treats:
- cotton candy
- popcorn (kettle corn from our farmer's market, to be exact)
And in the 3rd spot we have the Strong Man's barbells: mozzarella cheese & pretzel sticks

You may notice that my circus is animal free. :) Well, except for those tightrope walkers...but they are more the Berenstain Bears type of bears than the Stolen From Nature And Forced To Perform Demoralizing Schticks For Human Entertainment type of bears. ;-)

There are very few things that I outright boycott, and even fewer still that I not only boycott but will do so vocally. The circus is right at the top of that list. I am completely, 100%, unequivocally in the Animals Don't Belong in the Circus camp.

The last time I went to a circus was about 14 years ago. I went with my boyfriend (who is now my husband!). I went feeling very excited and giddy, but as I sat there my spirits sank. The animals in the circus broke my heart. I left feeling deflated and depressed. Probably not the effect the Ringling Brother's had hoped to bestow. My kids haven't been to an animal circus, nor will they...as long as I have any say in the matter. It won't be much of a battle anyhow, Ethan thinks the circus is cruel. He doesn't even like to watch Dumbo. ;-) Steve Irwin taught him well. :)

If you are in the mood for a good cry, read Kiba's Story. Kiba was a beautiful African Elephant at the Nashville Zoo. My family loved Kiba. We have a painting painted by Kiba hanging over our mantel. Kiba died a premature death due to crippling joint disease she acquired from being abused as a circus animal in her younger years.

I went to the circus for the first time in decades (30 years?) this summer. I loved the acrobatics and motorcycle stunts, but the animal segments just made me overwhelmingly sad. It was something I hadn't even thought of before we headed out, honestly, and it was my main takeaway from the day. (#2: the snacks = biggest rip-off in history).

What a great lunch for just being thrown together. My planned lunches aren't as cute as this. I also am anti-circus because of animal cruelty. Water for elephant was a great book not completely about the animals but I only need a glimpse to make myself cry.

I agree with you 100%! I am also a little on the anti-zoo soap box too. Although, the zoo in the city I live in is for animals that are old or retired from circus or whatever it may be and are there to be taken care of since they can't be released back in the wild- which is cool, but still . . .